Lived experiences of Gay traditional healers in the Amathole District Municipality
- Authors: Plaatjie, Nontsikelelo Margaret
- Date: 2024-06
- Subjects: Healers -- South Africa , Gender identity -- South Africa , Ancestor worship --South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/29089 , vital:76626
- Description: The primary goal of this study was to explore the lived experiences of gay traditional healers in the Amathole District Municipality. The study focused on traditional healers who are diviners and work as cause investigators (amagqirha emvumisa).The study used qualitative research methodology and employed Interpretative phenomenological analysis research design to examine the lived experiences of gay traditional diviners.This study was based on Cass’ identity formation theory as its overarching theoretical framework and specifically on sexual identity formation with a focus on LGBTQI plus. The sample consisted of five participants recruited through the snowball sampling technique. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews. The researcher was acquainted with three of the participants and each of them brought an interview-ready subject with them. All participants were gay traditional diviners with credentials and practice in their own settings. The analysis of the research study revealed that gay traditional healers experienced multifaceted aspects. These aspects includes those coming from social factors like family background. The findings indicated that factors such as parental neglect and lack of financial support for the training needs of gay traditional healers had a negative impact. However it became clear from the findings that negative attitudes starting from participants’s upbringing, training and practice caused confusion, sadness but ultimately self acceptance. Furthermore, the research study revealed a need for awareness campaigns on traditional healing, as well as on the choice of sexual orientation. Lack of knowledge of policies and laws concerning homosexuality and traditional healing revealed the amount of work that remains to be done in our society. The researcher recommends that for future studies, more research on legislation with regards to traditional healers and gay people be undertaken. Also the researcher recommends involvement traditional medical practitioner policy decision makers. , Thesis (MPsych) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2024
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- Date Issued: 2024-06
Disjunctures within conventional knowledge of black male homosexual identity in contemporary South Africa
- Authors: Li, Xinling
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Mead, George Herbert 1863-1931 , Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 , Butler, Judith, 1956- , Gay men, Black -- South Africa , Lesbians -- South Africa , Gender identity -- South Africa , Homosexuality -- South Africa , Identity (Psychology) -- South Africa , Gender identity -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3297 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003085 , Mead, George Herbert 1863-1931 , Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984 , Butler, Judith, 1956- , Gay men, Black -- South Africa , Lesbians -- South Africa , Gender identity -- South Africa , Homosexuality -- South Africa , Identity (Psychology) -- South Africa , Gender identity -- Social aspects
- Description: This thesis provides a sociological understanding of how conventional knowledge of sexuality negates the identity formation of black gay men in contemporary South Africa. It investigates the coming out experiences of six black gay men in order to reveal the disjunctures between being black and being gay. The theoretical formation of disjuncture is pursued through examining a number of sociological, historical, psychoanalytical, and feminist approaches to identity, sexuality, and society; featuring specifically the theories of George Herbert Mead, Michel Foucault, and Judith Butler. The chosen research paradigm is symbolic interactionism, postulating both „pragmatist‟ and „empiricist‟ trends that lead to both interactionist and structuralist forms of argumentation. The interactionist approach to sexuality is central to the deconstruction of sexual conventions. It involves conceptualising modern sexuality in the landscapes of African colonial history and the global gay and lesbian movement. The prescribed literature on homosexuality is thus reviewed in conjunction with the South African gay and lesbian struggle, so as to spawn themes and perspectives for conducting life story interviews. The use of the life story interview favours the participants‟ own view of the studied phenomenon, yet aims to depict the structural influence on homosexual identification. Following the qualitative research tradition, the data analysis is based on the interpretation of narratives. It illustrates interpersonal relationships and microscopic experiences that lead to the self-acceptance and self-actualisation of homosexuality. Within these processes, various disjunctures that exist between the cultural sanction of lifestyle and individual choice, between parents and children, between religious belief and personal desires, and between gender identity and sexual orientation are disclosed. The findings are associated with the historical transformation of masculinity in South Africa, sex role performance, and the heterosexualisation of desire. The solution to the proposed research problem is discussed through concepts of socialisation and gender conformity.
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- Date Issued: 2010